Jennifer Lorenz, executive director of the conservancy, said the conservation easement ensuring the protection of the preserve was amended to include the new acreage and an allowance for a wider construction corridor after development of trails overseen by Harris County exceeded the agreed-upon width.

'98 percent'

The 2.73-acre tract was added to the Bayou Land Conservancy's existing conservation easement. The previous 20-foot-wide construction corridor allowed under the easement for trail construction was expanded to 50 feet.

"They cleared wider than they were supposed to," Lorenz said of the county. "We had an agreement with them about how wide they could go and this 2.7 acres is what was offered after the fact."

She said dead trees had been removed from the sides of the trail that were outside of the designated area for trail construction to take place. Despite Lorenz's claims that the new land was added to the easement to compensate for the error, Harris County Precinct 4 project manager Mike Howelett said it was unrelated.

"The county was able to acquire a 2.73-acre tract that is adjacent to the Hundred-Acre Wood and since the Hundred-Acre Wood property was actually less than 100 acres, we felt it prudent that this 2.73 acres was added to the easement," he said of the preserve, located about 15 miles southwest of Spring.

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Although Lorenz said the conservancy agreed to allow a maximum 50-foot width for trail construction in the area, the final trails will likely be one-fifth that width. She said the concession is unique for the conservancy, and that it would not allow a similar distance on "98 percent" of their other preserves.

"The issue is that we wouldn't even be talking about this had they stayed within their boundaries," Lorenz said. "It is difficult in these forested areas to bring in these big trucks that are needed for trail construction... They needed to get an access road. It was to connect another piece on the property that needed to be constructed."

'Conservation value'

The land added to the preserve is slightly larger than two professional football fields and makes up a small portion of the entire preserve.

Suzanne Simpson, a biologist at the Bayou Land Conservancy, said the new acreage includes four different species of oak trees as well as a number of animal species including beavers, woodpeckers and dragonflies.

Lorenz said the conservancy is pleased with the addition of the 2.73 acres to the easement, even though they had to negotiate on the construction corridor.

"It was an unfortunate violation of that preserve," she said. "When we have issues, we deal with them. That's the benefit of working with us on any project, which is that we ensure that the conservation value gets preserved."